National Republican., 1887-04-18
w OOI.0 >
BOSTON D
Corner

whether associations that do their work with
closed doors and admit their members by pass.
words and greet each other with secret grip
entirely on the nature OF the object for which
they meet. Is 1t to pass the hours In revelry,
wassail, blasphemy, and obscene talk, or TO
ocents Then saw With an 70 empSasis that no
man can mistake, ''Nov' But Is the object the
defense Of the rights of any class against OPP
he OF the nd tha
art, the defense Of the government, the extir-
patton of crime, or the kindling Of a pure.
nGS hearted sSScisty Then say with Just as
conquest of right over wrong should publish
to all the world our Intentions The general
OF an army never sends to the opposing troops
information Of the coming attack. Shall we
who have enlisted In the cause OF God and hui
manity expose our plans 10 the enemy? No!
we will in secret plot the ruin OF all the enter.
expect us by day we will fall upon them by
night. While they are STRENGTHENING their
LEFT wing we will double up their right. BY a
viii viii come s0 suddenly N apon apois' tSem ery
Ing; ,,,o. THE esvN sword Of f, the Lord an
wrong only when the object and ends are ne.
every business firm and every banking and
insurance institution. Those men who have
10 capacity to keep secret are unfit, for posi-.
OF men whose vital need is culturing a Ca
pacity to keep secret Men talk too much,
and women, too. There is time to keep
silence as well as time to speak.
Although not belonging to any of the great
secret societies about which there has been so
much violent discussion, / have only words OF
praise tor those associations which have for
wrong. or the reclamation of inebriates. or
like the score of mutual benefit societies called
by different names, that provide temporary
from earning 4 livelihood Had 'it It not
been for the large number of secret labor or.
sgo IN TINS hss9 Would
ground the laboring classes into an intolerable
seryitude; The men who want the whole
earth to themselves would have got Il before
Of great secret organizations. And, while we
deplore many things that have been done BY
them, their existence 70 necessity, and their
the iRssfSa pRsoSaenae snS soa. eSh'ea sGSs as
from their association al members in
gradually cease anything like tyranny over yer
their members, and will forbid violent inter-
ference with any mans work, whether he be.
declare their disgust with any such rule as
that passed in England by the Manchester
Brickiayers' Association, which says any man
spse sed sSa SRnps Ss Of & &%p,Es Wo ssSas. SESna sH
pence for the first offence. five shillings for
and If still persisting shall be dealt with
secret societies in our colleges that have letters
OF the Greek alphabet for their nomenclature,
and their members are at the very front In
while there are others the scene of carousal,
and they gamble, and they drink, and they
graduate, knowing a hundred times more
ABOUT sin than they do OF geometry and So
DhOnlaR. gOpintipg
individuals, are good or bad, are the means OF
moral health OF Of temporal and eternal dam
nation. All good people recognize the vice of
tlandering an individual, but many do not see
the sin OF slandering an organization.
There are old secret societies In this and
other countries, some OF them centuries old,
which have been widely denounced as I'm.
moral and damaging In their influences, yet
have hundreds OF personal friends who belong
10 them, friends who are consecrated to God.
pillars In the church. faithful in all relations
OF life, examples OF virtue and piety. They
are the kind of friends whom I would have
for my executors II am so happy as to leave
anything for my household at the time of de.
cease, and they are the men whom would
have carry me out TO the last sleep when am
dead, You cannot make me believe that they
would belong TO bad institutions. They are
the men who would stamp on anything inlqui.
tous, and would certainly rather take their
testimony In regard to such societies than the
testimony OF those who, having been sworn In
as members, by their assault upon the society
confess themselves perlurers. One of these
secret societies gave for the relief OF the sick
in 1878, In this country Sl,i9O,2A. Some of
these societies have poured very heaven Of
sunshine and benedicton into the home OF
suffering. Several of them are founded on
fidelity 10 good citizenship ana the Bible. /
have never taken one of their degrees, They
might give me the grip a thousand times, and
would not recognize 1t. | am ignorant of
their pass words, and ] must judge entirely
from the outside. But Christ has given US a
rule by which we may judge not only all indl-
yiduals but all societies, secret and open. "By
their fruits ye shall know them" Bad sOcie.
ties make bad men. Good societies make good